Profile

Evan Bull's life sounds like a Horatio Alger story. Born in Belize, Mr. Bull worked his way from the mailroom to a managing directorship at insurance giant Marsh & McLennan, jumped ship to Chicago's Aon Corp. and then became CEO of his own brokerage, Corbis Insurance Services. "I always was interested in owning my own business," he says. "My vision was to build an all-star team and address an underserved marketplace: minority-owned businesses." Now, Mr. Bull, 41, is taking his year-old business nationwide, leveraging a strategic alliance with Aon, which owns a 5% equity stake in Chicago-based Corbis. His firm has opened offices in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and plans to establish holdings in 10 other U.S. cities. Under the agreement, Aon refers to Corbis clients who want to deal with a minority firm, while Corbis sends businesses that need more-sophisticated property insurance services to Aon. The two companies have worked together on at least a dozen projects, including providing coverage for the construction of Denver's new football stadium. "Evan's just a great businessman, a great broker," says Gary Marchitello, managing director of the global property practice group at Aon Risk Services Cos., based in New York. He's also a veteran of Marsh and has known Mr. Bull for 20 years. "I think the world of him."